“The legislation before us includes the most passenger-friendly provisions, the most significant aviation safety reforms, and the most comprehensive aviation security enhancements of any FAA reauthorization in recent memory.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, spoke on the Senate floor in support of the bipartisan airport security and passenger-friendly reforms in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill under consideration in the U.S. Senate.

If this were from the other side of the aisle you’d call it tax-and-spend legislation because of its continuance of taxes and fees on tickets and increases in spending for no real good. It does little, if anything, for South Dakota, it just throws a bunch of money into already inefficient programs like Airport Improvement and that ridiculous Essential Air Service program. There’s a real prize of a program for ya! Yeah, let’s spend millions of federal dollars to subsidize private companies to fly places where not even the locals support the airlines, or places like Watertown that are just 90 minutes from an airport like Sioux Falls where they have a lot of options.

We air travelers won’t see a lick of improvement in either airports or major airline service.